Mesa leaders highlight budget pressure as police and fire expand technology, staffing and ambulance services

Mesa officials on April 10 presented police and fire budget overviews that show increasing public-safety costs, planned staffing growth, technology investments and a recent expansion into city-run ambulance transport.

Police leadership told the council the department faces mixed crime trends: overall Group A crime rose modestly from 2022 to 2023 while property crime fell and person offenses (primarily simple and aggravated assaults) increased. The department cited the FBI's National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) as its reporting standard and noted a 2.5% increase in total Group A offenses from 2022 to 2023. "Although homicides were down by 48%, what drove the increase in persons crimes were simple assaults which increased by 25% and aggravated assault, which increased by 12%," a police presenter said.

Officials emphasized Mesa remains a comparatively safe large city but warned public-safety spending is a major driver of budgetary pressure. The police fiscal manager reported a $36.3 million variance in the current-year budget compared with the prior year; roughly $17.5 million of that growth was attributed to personal services, including new staffing and merit pay. Chief-level speakers said the city has used a multi-year pipeline program to keep academies and recruitments running ahead of expected vacancies; the police vacancy rate in patrol was reported lower than many peers.

The department also described investments in technology and analysis. The Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) has been expanded and now integrates closed-circuit cameras, automated license-plate readers, pan-tilt-zoom cameras and drone feeds to help locate suspects and provide timely intelligence to officers. Police officials said the RTCC frequently provides critical evidence and rapid suspect location; they cited a late-2024 homicide in which video reviewed by center operators helped identify and locate a suspect within minutes. Police presenters said RTCC operations have grown to 10 full-time operators plus supervisory staff and requested additional sergeant-level supervision and a civilian management assistant to oversee the program's technology and vendor contracts.

Police officials reported a targeted effort to reduce overtime: management changes and better approval, monitoring and audit procedures shrank average weekly overtime and produced a roughly 26% reduction so far, with a projected 30% reduction by June if trends continue. That cut was estimated to translate into about $6 million in annual savings if maintained, officials said.

The city also outlined its newly expanded Emergency Transportation Services. Fire and medical leaders said the city assumed full operation of a municipal ambulance service on March 24 and expects to run about 42,000 transports a year when fully built out (the service was operating 15 ambulances in previous phases and is expected to scale). Officials said transport equipment and ambulance purchases are capital outlays that will be recovered through billing and rate setting over roughly a five-year horizon for vehicle costs; staffing and operating costs are budgeted and billed through the new ETS fund.

Fire officials reported about 72,000 dispatched incidents in 2024, roughly 84% of which were medical calls, and described community risk reduction programs intended to lower demand. Fire and social-services staff said interventions aimed at "high utilizer" addresses -- people who call three or more times in a 90-day window -- have reduced repeated calls for some cases by roughly 40% to 50% through coordinated referrals to social services, adult protective services and long-term care placement when appropriate.

Council members raised questions about the allocation of funding across municipal priorities and the sustainability of long-term public-safety growth. Several council members requested deeper data on response-time impacts, RTCC case supports and long-term funding scenarios, and asked staff to bring technical details and consultant reports to subcommittees. No budget votes were taken at the April 10 meeting; the police and fire budget proposals will be part of the upcoming annual budget process.

Police and fire officials asked for follow-up committee briefings and committed to provide staffing lists, the consultant report used for communications redesign, RTCC performance metrics and EMS financial projections as the council continues its budget deliberations.